Premier Christy Clark has decided to repay money she collected in recent weeks from a severance fund for MLAs who lose their seats in the B.C. legislature.
Clark’s office moved quickly Tuesday to cancel payments she was receiving from the legislature’s “transitional allowance” fund after the Times Colonist asked for comment about the money.
Though Clark lost her Vancouver-Point Grey seat in the May 14 election, taxpayers continued to pay her MLA salary out of the allowance, which was designed to help ex-politicians while they find new jobs.
Clark was automatically signed up to receive the money, which continues the $101,859 base salary for up to 15 months for defeated or retiring MLAs.
A spokesman in the premier’s office said she did not intend to claim the money and would repay the amount already received. An exact figure was not provided, though if she received three weeks of her base MLA salary that could amount to approximately $5,876.
Even without her MLA pay, Clark continues to receive $91,673 annually in additional salary that comes with the premier’s job.
Clark does not need to be an elected MLA to hold the premier’s office. Under parliamentary convention, she simply needs to be the leader of the party with the most seats in the legislature and be asked to form government by the lieutenant-governor.
She has said she’ll seek a seat in a byelection. One of her MLAs is expected to resign this week so she can run in a different riding.
Clark’s salary as premier should be enough to cover her expenses until she has a seat, said Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
The fact she was automatically signed up for MLA severance, while publicly stating she would run in a byelection, shows the “goofy” nature of politician entitlements, he said.
“It’s never been doubted [Clark] would run in another seat … but here we are still paying her the premier’s salary and she’s still trying to collect the transitional allowance. That’s not what the transitional allowance was intended for.”
The MLA transitional allowance was created in 2007 as part of an MLA vote that increased politician salaries by 29 per cent and restored a pension plan that has been criticized as too generous.
Any MLA who is defeated or retires is eligible for the allowance. New Democrats Joe Trasolini and Gwen O’Mahony — who served only 13 months as MLAs before losing their seats on May 14 — are both eligible.
The money flows for 15 months or until an ex-politician gets a new job. If that job pays less than the MLA salary, the transitional fund can be used to top up payments to reach $101,000 annually.
In a controversial move last year, MLAs voted in secret to extend the allowance to politicians who were recalled. The move came at the height of anger over the harmonized sales tax, when anti-HST critics were mobilizing to recall several Liberal MLAs.
Clark criticized the allowance at the time, saying it didn’t make sense to pay recalled MLAs such a large severance. However, she said the money could be warranted for MLAs who weren’t re-elected for political or party reasons.
